Learn more about our fabulous playwrights, and then join us at the Prescott Center for the Arts in Prescott, AZ this Thurs, Sat and Sunday (Aug 6, 8, 9) for the OUTSIDE THE LINES Festival! Tickets Available HERE
Every once in a while, you meet a new playwright whose enthusiasm and positivity is just contagious! The kind of playwright who makes you feel like all the blood, sweat, and tears is totally worth it because she just gets what you’re trying to do and is so damn positive about it that you forget what a pain in the ass it can be to birth a project like this every year. Jaisey is that kind of playwright. Not only did she submit some fabulous pieces for consideration this year, but she’s also been a huge cheerleader for the fest and the other playwrights, and that kind of makes us love her even more. Her short play MY HEART & I is such a lovely addition to the festival, and it connects with us every time we hear it! The Prescott production of MY HEART & I stars Linda Fine, Angela Bryan, Amber Bosworth, Mikki Russ, and Annabelle Veatch, and is directed by Tiffany Antone.
LBDI: Why did you decide to submit your work to this year’s ONSTAGE Project?
JAISEY: I honestly can’t recall where I learned of LBDInk. Maybe Dave Bern’s playsubmissionshelper.com? I am a Troll(er) of Internet Play Submission Opportunities.
LBDI: Describe your writing space…
JAISEY: Have Words Will Travel. Actually, I can’t seem to write with pen and page anymore. Which is wrong. So so so wrong. [Note to Self: Those zillion empty journals? Trees PERISHED for the pretty white paper in those journals….] So I guess I ought to say Have Laptop Will Travel. I like people. And the ocean. So I tend to frequent cafes and public spaces with people which are on or near the ocean. So I can watch people. Or put my words in a bag and walk down to the sea. And watch the water. And the surfers. And the Santa Monica Ferris Wheel. O. How I heart that Ferris Wheel, ferris wheeling off in the distance.
LBDI: If you could be any literary character, who would you be?
JAISEY: So. Many. Characters. Across nations and languages and ages and backgrounds. And not only all the characters who speak to me from stories I write, but their voices seem to be the loudest. I am very curious why they chose me to tell their stories. I mean, don’t they comparative shop at all? My stories are different and definitely ‘challenged’ in finding homes. So it’s kinda surprising that they chose me. But maybe it’s because they don’t know they’re homeless. The characters and words. Since I tell them they’re nomadic. But in all honestly, it is so strange, how they speak to me, and how I walk this world so many times through them. Their words. There’s this bit of dialogue that is echoing so fiercely of late, from a spec script for a tv show I wrote:
“I just wanted it to mean something.”
“What?”
“My life.”
LBDI: What was your first play titled/about?
JAISEY: I honestly don’t remember not writing. There was a story about a dog who went on lots of adventures, when I was in 2nd grade or so. I think the dog’s name was Toby. I think it was called Toby’s Great Adventures.
LBDI: Which theatricians do you admire and what about them inspires you?
JAISEY: So. Many. People. Including Tiffany Antone, The Great. AKA That Woman Who Creates Amazing Opportunities For Women and Their Words.
LBDI: Why do you write for theatre? (as opposed to other written mediums…)
JAISEY: I love, as a writer and actress, that space. That gathering of words in space and time and that sharing and creation of a story with an audience of strangers but through the journey together you become something more. Than strangers. Because you’ve created something unique and non-repeatable together. That you and they will carry forward into the time we walk this ground, together. There’s something about that sacred space. Where you can travel through time and space and story as someone else, making other decisions, living a different path. Because it makes us understand just a little bit more what it means to be human.
LBDI: What message would you put in a fortune cookie?
JAISEY: You Are So Beautiful.
LBDI: Morning, Noon, or Night?
JAISEY: Aiming towards someday being able to say Morning because I love how my mother wakes on her farm at 5am every day. Without an alarm. And I think that’s kind of amazing and awesome. But, for now, Night.
More about Jaisey:
Jaisey Bates seeks to create stories that transcend cultural lines and speak at their heart to what it means to be human. She started writing for the stage while attending Circle in the Square and performing in NYC theaters. She hopes to engage audiences in nontraditional story experiences which help remind us of how much we share in common, underneath our’social skins’. Jaisey writes and performs her work with her multicultural, nomadic (a.k.a.’homeless’) theater company, The Peoplehood (the-peoplehood.com). LA and NYC performance venues for her words have included the Agüeybaná Book Store, Art/Works, Eclectic, Lounge, Naked Angels, Native Voices at the Autry, Open Fist, Performance Loft, Playwrights’ Center Stage, Studio/Stage, Unknown and Victory theaters.
